Real-Life Tron Game Helps Network Security
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The next big network security tool?
CREDIT: Fedorova Alexandra | Shutterstock.com |
Security experts in the future could play a Tron-like video game to patrol their networks, instead of having to read through pages of data. Researchers have developed a first-person shooter-style game for those whose job it is to check for network attacks, the New Scientist reported.
The game isn't just more fun than the traditional job. It could help analysts work more effectively. Replacing the traditional lists and graphs with a 3D virtual environment helps analysts process more information at once, computer scientist Jeremy Kepner told the New Scientist. Kepner built the new game along with Matthew Hubbell, a colleague at the Lincoln Laboratory of MIT.
"The gameplay metaphor is very compelling to get people to interact with the work," Frank Zinghini, CEO of a visualization software company called Applied Visions, told the New Scientist. Zinghini was not involved in making the game.
Kepner and Hubbell's game creates a virtual replica of the building whose network analysts are assigned to protect. Analysts use a keyboard and mouse or a Playstation controller to patrol the building, looking for anamolies, which might get animated as a fire or an explosion. They are able to deal with some problems in the 3D environment. If needed, they can also run over to the part of the building under cyber-attack and shut down the machine there.
Kepner and Hubbell have tested their game on a network with 5,000 machines, the New Scientist reported. They presented their work at an extreme computing conference hosted by the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers in September.
Source: New Scientist
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